Hg launches Saturn fund

Oscar Geen
26 February 2018

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Buyout firm Hg has launched its first large-cap vehicle (Hg Saturn) with a target of £1bn and a hard-cap of £1.5bn, Unquote understands.

The new vehicle will make three or four investments, writing considerably larger equity tickets than Hg's other funds. However, it will continue to target companies in the TMT sector with a focus on software and technology companies.

The firm has hired Blackstone Group's Michael Biehl to work on this strategy. Biehl was at Blackstone for six years, latterly as principal. Prior to joining, Biehl worked as a private equity analyst at Warburg Pincus and Merill Lynch.

Hg has previously invested in medium-sized northern European companies in the TMT sector. It is currently deploying capital into this space from HgCapital 8, which closed on its hard-cap of £2.5bn in February 2017, and targets companies with enterprise values between £100-500m.

The naming convention follows Hg's Mercury series, which targeted the small-cap space. Hg closed Mercury 2 on £575m in February 2017 (announced simultaneously with HgCapital 8) to target smaller technology businesses.

Hg was formerly known as Mercury Private Equity after spinning out of Merill Lynch, and it rebranded again from Hg Capital in 2017. Based in London, United Kingdom, the firm has an additional office in Germany and around 130 employees. It has funds of £9bn under management.